Hackers claim breach of FBI director’s emails amid rising cyber tensions

A group of hackers linked to Iran say they have accessed the personal emails of FBI Director Kash Patel, publishing photos and documents online in what appears to be the latest escalation in a widening cyber front tied to the US-Iran conflict.

The group, calling itself the Handala Hack Team, announced the breach on Friday, stating that Patel “will now find his name among the list of successfully hacked victims”.

Reuters and CNN reported that the breach has been confirmed by unnamed security officials and sources familiar with the matter, though neither the FBI nor the Department of Justice has publicly commented.

The material released so far appears to include emails and images, some dating back more than a decade. Among them are travel and business-related correspondence, as well as personal photos showing Patel with an antique sports car, smoking a cigar and posing with a bottle of rum.

Patel, who became the ninth director of the FBI in 2025, has already faced scrutiny over his leadership, with critics accusing him of using the agency to align with President Donald Trump’s political agenda and for personal travel.

The hackers describe themselves as pro-Palestinian “vigilantes” and have previously claimed responsibility for a cyberattack on medical device company Stryker. Western cybersecurity researchers have linked the group to Iranian cyberintelligence networks.

The group said the attack on Patel was part of a broader response to the US-Israel strike on a school in Minab, southern Iran, which it claims killed more than 170 people, most of them children. Following that incident, the group warned that its operations marked “the beginning of a new chapter in cyber warfare”.

Iran has signalled that it may increasingly rely on cyber operations to target Western institutions and economic interests as tensions with the United States and Israel deepen.